Finished: A Curious Beginning – Deanna Raybourn 4.75* (Sept 9) Sometimes impulse buys work out, sometimes they don't. In this case, beautiful cover art, enthusiastic reviews, and the price (<$1) paid off many times over.Veronica Speedwell is a fascinating...

Finished: (Don't) Call Me Crazy – Kelly Jensen –3* (Aug 30) (This is actually an August book, but I finished it after I completed my last Friday Reads post) I bought this on impulse and I’m not sure what I was expecting. It was a worthwhile read if only to extend my...

Finished: The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton - 3.5* (Aug 29) "Gosford Park" meets "Groundhog Day" by way of Agatha Christie – the most inventive story you'll read this year. I’m not entirely sure how to rate this book. I have such mixed feelings about...

Finished: Nada. Unless you want to count the 105k-word novel I finished editing, which I do since I've read it 3 times (and will be reading it again once the author goes through my edits). 9/3 Update: I realized I DID finish a short book this week and somehow...

Finished: She's Not There – PJ Parrish – 2.5* (Aug 2) Entertaining but not life-changing. The mystery was interesting but nothing felt very original. Buchanon was a great character among a cast of many who weren't particularly compelling. I enjoyed reading it, but...

Finished: The Doll – Daphne du Maurier - 4* (July 20) I feel like a broken record when it comes to short stories, but this collection was less uneven than some others I've read. A few of the stories were misses for me, including the title story, "The Doll." But some...

Finished: Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng - 4.5* (June 19) Strong 4.5. Beautifully written, complex characters and stories. The ending left me wanting a bit more, otherwise it would’ve been 5. While I didn't always agree with the characters' actions, I feel that...

Finished: About Grace - Anthony Doerr - 3.5* (June 9) Anthony Doerr impressed me with his beautiful writing in "All The Light We Cannot See," and I bought this book without even reading the summary based on the strength of that book. "About Grace" was off to a very...

Speed-reading to meet my monthly goal (spoiler alert!). Finished: If Cats Disappeared from the World - Genki Kawamura - 3.5* (May 27) I feel like this book may have suffered from poor translation. What could've been a very touching story instead felt clunky. The...

My posting hasn't exactly been regular, huh? I'd probably be around #20 if I'd posted every Friday. Finished: Once Upon a River - Diane Setterfield - 3.5* (May 19) The book was meandering, like the river central to its tales. With so many characters, it was often hard...

Finished: The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas - 5* (Apr 9) The word that keeps coming to mind when I try to describe this book is "crushing." I occasionally read YA when I need something lighter but this is not that kind of book. It's a very heavy look at the life of a...